While I’m not a friend of the hourly rate, I am realist enough to acknowledge that it is the standard approximation to “value” in law-law-land. Here’s what I don’t get: why are there no partners listing their hourly rate as $5k? Some are worth it.

Unless you lived under the proverbial rock for the past 7 years, you will have heard of Daniel Kahneman’s book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” In it, he proposes that we have two modes of thinking: "System 1" is fast, automatic or instinctive, and emotional; "System 2" is slower, more deliberative, effortful, and logical.